


Feathers and Fur

by Little_Ayakashi



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crows, Enemies to Friends, Everyone Loves Hinata Shouyou, Fluff, Foxes, Hinata Harem, Hinata Shouyou is Sunshine, Hybrids, M/M, Minor ships with Hinata, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Racism against crows, Slow-burn-but-not-very-slow, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-12 05:21:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 19,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28880157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Little_Ayakashi/pseuds/Little_Ayakashi
Summary: The food chain was certainly unfair and cruel but respected by all. The weakest lowered their eyes in front the strongest's fangs. The little beast watched with an anxious eye the biggest one's claws shining in the daylight, its body ready to flee if necessary. Some were destined to run all their lives, to get away from danger as quickly as possible, while others had the duty to chase the runaways until the metallic taste of their blood permeated their tongue.Yes, the food chain was respected by all. But on rare occasions, unconscious idiots would oppose the very essence of their existence.People called him a fool, and maybe they were right, but Hinata would not simply look down before a few pretentious foxes' fangs and claws, regardless of their social status.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Everyone, Hinata Shouyou/Kita Shinsuke, Hinata Shouyou/Miya Atsumu, Hinata Shouyou/Miya Osamu, Hinata Shouyou/Ojiro Aran, Hinata Shouyou/Suna Rintarou
Comments: 51
Kudos: 189





	1. Black Wings

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I'm here again with a new story. I wrote this in summer and, to be honest, I forgot a bit about what I wrote in this chapter ^^'
> 
> I'm a very slow writer, I'm sorry about it. The updates will not be fast. And the others chapters will not be as long as this one.
> 
> Also, this fic contains explicit descriptions of violence. Do not read it if you are sensitive to it.
> 
> Anyways, enjoy!

He was flying over the forest, happily singing his little sister's favorite lullaby. 

The sky was clear, no stormy or rainy clouds on the horizon, and the afternoon sun gently warmed his black wings. Hinata admired the magnificent view that he could only see once a year. From the age of fourteen, he had the right to go to the autumn festival organized on the other side of the large forest that separated the lands of Karasuno from that of Nohebi. The festival lasted a week and consisted of enjoying the last colorful leaves while drinking hot drinks before winter swept them away in an icy squall. The coming winter was going to be particularly harsh this year, Hinata and his mother were struggling to dig the field behind their house because of the frost as hard as stone covering most of their small land where they were allowed to cultivate. 

Although it was very cold and autumn was drawing to a close, the forest took on beautiful orange and gold colors, perhaps it contained the last trees to still have leaves on their branches. The forest was a protected place and isolated from the rest of the world because of the mansion, belonging to the kingdom of Inarizaki serving as a royal safe where important and classified documents, war treasures and wealth of the kingdom were stored, that there was inside. Hinata did not fly very high, the trees stretched to infinity so there was no point in trying to fly above their tops, but he could still see the four towers built at each end of the immense mansion, making it look like a castle. 

But that was not what interested him. So he returned his gaze to the lush vegetation, trying as best he could not to meet the trunk of a tree inadvertently. The only time the boy with the crow wings could see the forest was when he came home from the festival. He then took the time to admire the trees whose leaves were as flamboyant as his hair, the rivers with water so clear that he could see fish if he concentrated, animals foraging for winter, the many stones thrown at him or unknown plants covering the ground to leave only a carpet of leaves and flowers. 

The many stones thrown at him? 

Hinata noticed the danger too late, the first stone hit him hard on the back of his head. Shocked and half knocked out, he flapped his wings with difficulty to stay in the air and not fall. Unfortunately, a second stone hit him on the back, causing him to lose his balance and he watched in horror his body fall without being able to stop it. The wind whistling in Hinata's ears confused his senses, overwhelming him with uncontrollable panic. 

His back, already injured, hit hard the branches of the trees the boy was looking at a few minutes ago. He waved his arms and legs at the same time as his wings to cushion his fall but all he did was hurt himself even more. After emerging from several tangles of leaves and branches, the little crow finally crashed into a shallow river. For a few seconds, he panicked because of the lack of oxygen, the fact that his eyesight was blurred and that what entered his mouth and nose was not air but water. Icy water flowed through his esophagus and windpipe at lightning speed, freezing his body as oxygen bubbles escaped from his wide open mouth. 

He was going to drown. The image of his little sister impatiently awaiting his return from the festival came to his mind. Hinata didn't want to drown. In one last effort, his right hand came out of the river and grabbed the thing closest to him. When the palm of his hand touched the root of a tree, he used all his strength to hoist himself out of the water. The teenager spat out all the water that had seeped into his lungs and was not surprised to see blood coming out of his mouth. Then the pain he feared hit him hard, so hard that tears ran down his brown eyes, mingling with the mud and blood on his cheeks. The red haired felt a warm, sticky liquid dripping from his skull and back without seeming to stop. He wanted to get his body out of the river, get help, but the pain and the shock of the fall didn't let him do anything. Hinata therefore remained there, hanging on the root of the tree as if his life depended on it, and it was, and waited. 

The crow did not wait too long. A boy with black hair and grayish-yellow eyes appeared out of nowhere. He must have felt Hinata's blood because he didn't seem surprised to see someone injured. He was wearing a buckskin blazer padded with sheep's wool, black cotton trousers, and ankle-length lace-up boots also in leather, the same color as the blazer. "Is he a wolf or a fox?", wondered the smallest one, noticing the black ears above his head, as black as the boy's tail swinging lazily from side to side. "Anyway, maybe he can help me." 

But his eyes looked at the boy's hands and found a large slingshot and stones there, the same ones that had hit him while he was flying. He wasn't going to help him. Before he could react, the fox, Hinata assumed that he was one, lifted him by the neck as if he weighed nothing and threw him without even considering his injuries in a cloth bag. Hinata waved his wings to try to tear the bag but the pain quickly reminded him that he shouldn't move. He started to panic again, his blood still flowing from his head didn't help him stay calm. Why had this boy attacked him? Was it because he was flying too low or had entered their territory without knowing it? Hinata's mother told him that people often attack crows because they bring misfortune and poverty, a ridiculous superstition. 

He felt the fox climb what appeared to be a staircase. The bag swung regularly from right to left and made him nauseous. The redhead wanted to scream, call for help, insult this guy, but nothing came out of his throat. Tears of frustration rolled down his cheeks as he kicked furiously the bag, trying to hit the fox's legs. In vain. The perpetrator finally stopped walking and for the first time, Hinata heard his voice. It was low, calm and at the same time terrifying. "I'm back." 

"Welcome home, Suna." Another voice, much lower, reached the crow's ears. He chooses to pretend to have passed out so he can listen to their conversation and, perhaps, find out what happened to him. Except for rare cases, foxes were stronger than crows so the boy had to find a way to get home without causing a fight. "Was the hunt good?" 

The. What. Hinata's eyes widened and his heart beat faster in his chest. Were they really going to eat him? It wasn't normal! People firmly believed that crows find their food in trash cans and that they never wash themselves so no one tried to eat them. For the love of God, even hyenas didn't eat them! And one of the many international laws was categorical, feeding on another evolved animal when you were one too was cannibalism and therefore prohibited under pain of imprisonment for life or, in some countries, death penalty. Are foxes stupid? His mother once told him that they were very cunning and smart but the redhead began to doubt his word. Suna put an end to Hinata's thinking when he answered the question. "Yes, I found a chicken." Did that fox just fucking insult him? 

The little crow didn't care that his body was injured or that his throat was dry. He kicked the bag, ferociously waved his wings and yelled at the fox even if it sounded more like croaking. His pride was hurt because of this guy who had found nothing better to do than throw stones at him when he was just passing above the forest. His injuries made him suffer, the loss of blood blurred his mind and he couldn't think of a way to escape from this place. Hinata was going through a terrible time, the worst time of his life, so he didn't need to be insulted. "Are you sure it's a chicken?" The person speaking to Suna asked, clearly not convinced of the contents of the bag. Of course he wasn't a chicken. How the hell could a chicken fly more than ten meters high? 

"Suna came back from the hunt? Let's see what he brought back 'Samu!" A new voice, a new problem for the redhead. He was proud of his agility, speed and reflexes, but no matter how hard he will struggle, he was just a small bird against four dangerous predators. He started to sweat nervously when he heard the sound of two people's steps approaching him and grabbing the bag. The next moment, Hinata landed with a groan of pain on a white and black patterned tiling. His gaze passed from the boy who had captured him to two foxes with identical faces. The only difference was their hair and fur color, blond for one and silver for the other. A few feet behind them was a very tall man with dark skin, broad shoulders and fur as black as his, very short, hair. "What's wrong with you Aran? It's a chicken," said the blond, looking curiously at the little crow. 

His twin brother crossed his arms over his chest and nodded. "It's definitely a chicken." Hinata was terrified. He couldn't even find the strength to get mad at them for having insulted him again. Black dots obscured his vision, it was only a matter of time before he passed out. He had to find a way out quickly. The room in which the redhead found himself resembled the interior of a house, more precisely a kitchen. They were really going to eat him. An open window caught his eye, the sun's rays passed between the glass of a window and warmed his cold skin. The boy wanted to fall asleep but he knew that if he closed his eyes, he might never open them again. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the big fox cut the silence by loudly exclaiming. 

"Oh my God, it's a child! What did you do to him Suna?" Aran rushed to Hinata's injured little body and knelt down to be able to take him in his arms. Hinata didn't have the time to retreat that he was already in the fox's arms. They were strong, muscular but the movement was soft and delicate. His body was incredibly warm, contrasting with that of the redhead who was as cold as death. Canids had a higher body temperature than other animals and their thick fur warmed them even more, unlike birds and their fine feathers. So body heat combined with blood loss and fatigue finally made the crow pass out, his head pressed against Aran's chest, a stranger who, from what he understood, would surely eat him. 

"Why are you hugging the food?", asked the two twins at the same time with a perplexed expression on their faces. Suna seemed completely indifferent to what was going on. 

"Are you blind? It's clearly a young crow!" Aran lowered his head to ask Hinata for his name but noticed that he had lost consciousness. "Oh no, come on little guy, stay with us." 

The silver haired fox stared at the child - or was he a teenager? - before turning to his brother. "Hey 'Tsumu." 

"Yeah?" 

"Roasted or marinated?"

-

He was basking in the heat of the rays of the sun which seemed to be at its zenith due to the ambient temperature higher than normal. Strange for a month of November, especially since his room was filled with mold and humidity, not to mention the many holes in the walls letting in the cold fall air. Intrigued, Hinata opened his eyes. He awoke in an unknown room, his body resting on a clean bed with white sheets. His gaze scanned the room as he tried to remember why he was there. 

The decor was quite the opposite of his usually empty room: a well-kept brown parquet floor, a small dark wood table covered with a lace tablecloth and surrounded by three elegant chairs, a large wardrobe also in dark wood, contrasting with the beige walls, and finally the bed in which Hinata was lying. The bed was big enough for at least three people. Two large pillows, the same white as the sheets, supported his head while the other two smaller ones were only decorative. The crow assumed it was a four-poster bed because of the very light green curtains, the same color as the decorative pillows, hung high up. Hinata turned his head to the right and noticed that a bedside table, accompanied by an oil lamp and a glass of water, was placed on each side of the bed. 

"It's a bedroom, thought the redhead while sitting down, how did I end up here?" He put his hand to his hair, a habit he had every time he worked his brain, and felt a liquid stuck to his orange wicks. Touching his blood reminded him of the festival and its hot drinks, the stones, the bag but more importantly, it reminded him of the foxes. The crow couldn't believe he passed out so easily in front of four hungry predators. Kageyama was going to kill him if he found out, his friend got mad so quickly when it came to Hinata. And he could already hear Tsukishima's sarcastic comments about his limitless stupidity. Caught in his thoughts, he didn't notice the door open and close behind a young man before he spoke. "You're awake." 

"Ah!" 

Yes, he had just screamed like a four years old girl. Yes, he wanted to hide his head in the sheets and never get out. Yes, it was so fucking embarrassing. Thanks God the person made no comment, preferring to put a basin of water, towels and a white box on the bed and sit next to the redhead. Hinata felt his body stiffen and his heartbeat accelerate nervously. The fox had light gray hair with black tips at the ends, like his tail, dark eyes and thin eyebrows. In conclusion, he was really handsome. Perhaps one of the most handsome people Hinata has ever seen."I'm sorry for your injuries, Suna took you for a prey." He spoke while dipping a towel in the water and wringing it out. His voice was calm and serious, but at the same time reassuring. "You're really fragile and weak to lose so much blood just because of two stones." Okay, maybe not reassuring. 

Hinata tried to defend himself, it was really mean how this fox had told him that, but all that came out of him throat was just a dry and painful cough. The boy took the glass of water from the bedside table, brought it to the crow's lips, and helped him take a sip or two. The water rehydrated the desert that was his throat, flowing down his esophagus and then landing in his sadly empty stomach. After a few minutes, the cough stopped and the fox put the glass back on the bedside table. "My name is Kita Shinsuke." 

The smallest one hesitated several seconds before saying in a hoarse voice: 

"H-Hinata Shouyou." 

"Well, how about I wash you, Hinata? You look pitiful." Kita wasn't wrong, his hair was dirty, his body stained and injured, his wings filled with leaves and branches and not to mention his simple gray sheep's wool pullover made by his mother's skillful hands, completely torn, as well as his black canvas trousers. He had lost his old brown shoes during his fall. But still, the fox could have said it a little nicer. 

Kita didn't seem to care as he was already starting to undress Hinata, starting by removing his gray pullover, exposing a pale chest scratched by the branches of the trees. The touch of the wet towel on the crow's sensitive skin made him shiver and he had to bite the inside of his cheeks to prevent his body from running away. His instincts was yelling at him to leave immediately, to bite Kita's arm so that he would stop touching his chest but Hinata held on. It would be stupid to rebel now. He was injured, in an unknown location and, icing on the cake, a predator was about thirty centimeters from his throat. 

Kita finished cleaning the chest, there was only mud and small scratches, the hardest part was the back. At the request of the older one, Hinata turned so that his back was facing Kita. He first removed the dirt around the big wound made by the stone, took another wet towel, the white box and tackled the hard task of cleaning the inside of the wound. The redhead groaned in pain when he felt a metal forceps, out of the white box which was actually a first aid kit, penetrate his flesh and remove what appeared to be the bark of a tree. 

The pain echoed throughout his body, whistling in his ears, making his heart beat faster. He wanted to yell until he tore his throat, yell at this stranger torturing him, yell at the way the pain was burning inside him but he didn't. Hinata bit his hand to only let a muffled scream fill the room and let the tears run down his cheeks without trying to stop them, his other hand gripping the sheets as hard as she could. Kita noticed his pain because he gently placed a hand on his shoulder blade. "It's almost over." The contact between Kita's warm hand and Hinata's icy skin only made him panic even more. 

The fox pulled out of the first aid kit surgical instruments to apply stitches, including a needle driver to grab the needle. He made sure the needle clamp was locking in place and he pulled all the thread out of first aid kit. Hinata started to sweat nervously because, even though he could not see Kita, he could hear the clinking of sterilized instruments. Not at all reassuring. A metallic taste began to spread in his mouth when Kita used the tissue forceps to expose the side of the wound he was going to begin the suture on. 

He pushed the needle through the skin at a ninety degree angle about a centimeter to the right of the wound. The crow's hand was streaming with blood as his body was shaken by uncontrollable spasms. When Kita went deep enough, he twisted his hand clockwise so that the needle starts coming up on the other side of the wound. He wanted the needle to come out straight across from the first needle hole. It was incredibly painful, even more painful than the time Hinata had fought with a hawk who asked him if he was for sale. The crows had not been slaves for two hundred years now, and the redhead was sure the hawk knew it perfectly well. He just wanted to bully him and Hinata was not the type to accept that without complaining. 

When the needle had come out on the other side of the wound, Kita unlocked the needle driver, reattached it near the tip of the needle, and pulled until he have about one or two centimeters of thread left on the right side of the wound. Hinata squeezed the sheets so tight that the tips of his knuckles turned white. The fox released the needle. He used his left hand, holded the thread on the left side of the needle and wrapped twice around the tip of the needle holder. Outside, clouds were slowly starting to cover the sky and hide the soft rays of the sun contrasting with the dry, cold air. "If only I was outside..." thought the teenager as Kita slightly opened the needle holder and grabbed that one or two centimeters of thread on the right side of the wound. 

He used his left hand, pulled the long part of the thread. The part of the thread wrapped around the needle holder was sliding off. The crow let out a cry of pain, though muffled by his hand, when Kita tighted things so that the tissue was just touching and he made sure the knot was lying flat. He used his left hand, holded the long end of the thread and wrapped it once around the needle driver clockwise. While Hinata was doing his best to keep his wings from moving and therefore hitting the fox, not that it would bother him to flap his wings on this guy's face, Kita slightly opened the needle driver and grabbed the short end of the thread. He used his left hand, pulled the long part of the thread. He finished the knot with another overhand knot before cutting the excess thread. 

Hinata couldn't believe that all this pain had only served to make one stitch. The older boy repeated the process over and over without ever pausing, piercing his skin with the needle for what felt like an eternity. The sheets, before so white and clean, were stained with blood coming from Hinata's back and his hand bruised by his sharp canines sinking into his flesh with each sensation of pain. While he had stopped counting the stitches sewn on his body for a while now, Kita stopped butchering his lower back. The ringing of surgical instruments was heard one last time before the fox wrapped them in a small towel, surely so that they did not come into contact with anything while waiting to be washed, and put it back in the white box. 

He then cleaned the back with the towel to remove the blood that had spilled before putting several bandages around Hinata's waist to cover the stitches. The crow heaved a sigh of relief, although the pain was not gone, his shoulders relaxed for a moment but he shivered when a hand touched the feathers of his wings. Hinata was really sensitive to this part of his body so he couldn't suppress a gasp due to Kita's fine fingers passing between his feathers, delicately removing the orange and red leaves. He was no longer biting his hand so the sound was not muffled, causing a blush on his cheeks as a series of excuses left his lips, quickly calmed by his healer. "It's okay, there are people more sensitive than others." he said returning the redhead to his original position and placing the basin of water on his legs, so that it was just below Hinata's head. He didn't know Hinata almost hit him for touching his wings. 

Kita used a jug that Hinata had previously not noticed to rinse Hinata's hair. An unpleasant shiver ran through his spine as the cold water made contact with his aching scalp. The water passed between the orange strands, carrying in its passage the dried blood, mud and leaves once stuck in the sun-set curls. Head tilted forward, Hinata looked at the now dirty water that fell from his head to land in the basin of water. A few drops escaped from his head and ran down his temples to reach his cheeks, taking the same path as the tears of pain and frustration a few minutes - or was it hours? - earlier. 

In the water of the basin, the reflection of a young man with brown eyes under which a blackish color, accentuated by a pale complexion, indicating a disturbed sleep could be observed. The brown eyes were accompanied by lips bitten until the blood, cheeks slightly sunken, probably from malnutrition, and damp hair of an unusual color: orange. "Is that me?" Hinata wondered as he gazed into his reflection. "Since when do I look that pitiful?" 

But his question remained unanswered because Kita lifted Hinata's head so that he could dry it off with a towel. He applied a cream taken out of the first aid kit on the bump that had started to form where the stone had hit Hinata's head and finally bandaged it. Kita's stern gaze went to the redhead's hand, dripping with blood. He knew that Kita wanted to reprimand him for having mutilated himself but, first, Hinata did not need to justify his actions and gestures to this stranger and, second, the pain had been unbearable to him so he had to find a way to think of other things and not to scream at the tearing of his vocal cords. Although he really wanted to. He simply let the older boy clean his hand and bandage it, keeping his gaze fixed on the sheets that were not as white as before. What a pity, they looked so expensive. "Serves them right," Hinata thought as he ran a thumb over the bandages now covering his right hand. 

The crow watched as the fox put the bandages back in the white box while his brain was running at full speed. Should he thank him? Absolutely not. Hinata didn't have a vocabulary large enough to be able to express his anger towards these barbaric foxes without any manners. Everyone said that the inhabitants of Inarizaki were from another world, a world where luxury was an ordinary way of life and where wealth was amassed around every corner. So much so that the previous king decided to build a mansion in the huge forest, once a nature reserve under the name of a country no longer shown on maps, belonging to the kingdom of Inarizaki. 

But while most of the kingdom was on the Western Continent, the forest housing the mansion was on the Eastern Continent. As a result, the royal palace decided to send men and women there to look after the mansion for a period of time before giving way to other people. This law was modified many times to finally arrive in its final form. Like military service in the Shiratorizawa Empire or the Democratic Republic of Nekoma, a lottery system choosing fifteen-years-old boys and girls was put in place. They will stay at the mansion and take care of it, all this with being paid by the state, for three years before they can return home. 

Hinata had had the enormous luck to cross the path of these so-called people from another world. Do all people living in luxury attack innocents who have done nothing wrong? Or was it just that these guys got a bad education? Hinata didn't know and didn't want to know either. 

Kita finished packing the bandages, surgical instruments and cream into the first aid kit before getting up. Seeing Kita's silhouette moving towards the wardrobe, Hinata let out a sigh of relief. He felt like he had been holding his breath since Kita had sat down next to him. Out of the corner of his eye, he silently watched him open the wardrobe and pulled out clean clothes similar to his own: a simple white button-up shirt, black trousers, underwear and brown leather shoes. Kita put the clothes on the corner of the bed then carried the basin with the dirty water in one hand and the white box in the other. "He's strong," Hinata remarked. The thought made him uncomfortable. 

"I'll get you some food in a few moments. Until then, get dressed and be careful not to make a sudden movement." Kita said as he made his way to the door, his gray and black tail swaying to the rhythm of his footsteps. It was only when the door closed behind him that Hinata allowed himself to completely relax his body. He closed his eyes for a moment, suddenly feeling tired but opened them again in fear of falling asleep. The crow's gaze fell on the clothes folded in the corner of his bed. They were too far away for him to put them on without having to get up. Did Kita put them there on purpose to force Hinata to get out of bed? How cruel. 

Hinata lifted the sheets and slid his legs until they reached the floor. His bare feet touched an unknown texture as soft as a cloud. Although Hinata never touched a cloud in his life, he figured it must be the same as stepping on the shag beige carpet spanning a tenth of the room. After several failed attempts to stand up, his head was aching badly and his vision was blocked from the pain, he finally managed to stand on his own two legs without falling. The body leaning against one of the pillars of the four-poster bed, Hinata reluctantly put aside his gray pullover. Even though it was in a deplorable state, it was still the garment that his mother spent several nights making, using whatever she had on hand to make it look presentable. 

He took the white shirt in his hands and frowned at the two holes in the back of the garment. It was clearly done carelessly using scissors without even bothering to stitch it up so as not to make it look like rips. "They can sew a wound but not a garment? Don't make me laugh." Hinata mumbled. He put the sleeves of the shirt through his arms and his wings through the holes made for this purpose. While he was buttoning the garment, Hinata flapped his black wings, causing a light breeze that made the sheets lift and the curtains move. Good news, the fabric, roughly torn, did not interfere with the movements of the crow's wings. 

He sat down on the edge of the bed so he wouldn't have to hop from foot to foot to take off his pants. Hinata slid it down his legs before putting on the one Kita had provided his. Although the color was the same, it was obvious that there was a difference in the quality and, of course, in the price that it must have cost. Hinata's gaze fell on the cowhide belt he hadn't noticed until then. He wrapped it around his waist, not without stroking the brown leather before, enjoying the smooth and rough feel of the belt. 

Finally came the shoes. Stag leather boots of a dull color between gray and brown, very similar to those worn by the guy who attacked Hinata. The only difference was that there was no fur of any animal stuffing the shoes. The crow shuddered at the cold and, for some reason, wet leather. Why the hell were the shoes wet? Those bastards fox must have given him a pair of boots that no one was using and had therefore been out in the rain and wind for an indefinite period of time. Hinata chosed to take off the shoes, even if it meant staying barefoot. 

Instead of tearing down the curtains or smashing a window in an act of revenge, although the crow didn't mind the idea, Hinata preferred to take his head in his hands and let out a long, tired sigh. Events had passed so quickly that he didn't have time to think about his situation. First of all, he was surprisingly alive. Hinata had expected never to wake up again but, by a huge coincidence or a miracle, he had woken up in an unfamiliar room. The window across from the bed showed a pretty, oversized garden where people were working to clear away leaves that had fallen in the wind. 

Curious, the boy got up with difficulty and crossed the room to reach the window. He noticed that he was on the third floor of an imposing mansion located in the middle of this forest that Hinata had so often flown over. He deduced that, given the kiosk placed in the middle of the garden and the precision with which the shrubs were pruned, the garden was at the rear of the mansion. 

Although the flowers decorating the garden paths were breathtakingly beautiful, they did not compete with the field of sunflowers where, two years earlier, Hinata had met Akaashi while he was picking flowers for his little sister's birthday. He was not allowed to pick anything in this field so, at the sight of an owl, Hinata had taken off the ground at full speed and had rushed up the hill where his house was located, without looking back once. Every time the crow returned to this field, to pick flowers or just admire the sight of plants larger than him bathing in the rays of the summer sun, the owl was waiting for him, sitting on the ground and stroking sunflower petals. 

Hinata had initially been suspicious of this boy with enormous brown wings, but the more time passed, the more harmless he had seemed to him. It started with shy glances, and then, little by little, Hinata reduced the distance between them until they were facing each other in this ocean of yellow and orange petals. He had learned that Akaashi Keiji came from the Northern Continent where there was no summer or spring, just freezing cold piercing the skin like sharp peaks of ice. The Keiji family along with other owl, partridge and buzzard families had to leave their frozen land and settle in Karasuno, where there were four distinct seasons, for political reasons. 

Hinata had also learned that, since their first meeting where he had disappeared in a whirlwind of petals carried away by the movement of his wings, Akaashi had returned every day to this field of sunflowers in the hope of seeing again what he had called "a fleeting ray of sunshine". 

At the memories of the pleasant moments spent with the owl, Hinata felt his eyes fill with tears. His head and back ached, he was hungry, he was in an unknown and surely dangerous place. The crow wanted to go home, where his mother was waiting for him, where he would tell Natsu how awesome the festival was. Running away was a solution, but the only option he had was to fly out the window and it wasn't a very smart way to escape. 

Firstly, because the redhead was in danger of fainting in mid-flight from his headache and the pressure difference. Secondly, the foxes would attack him again. It was only a hypothesis, nothing told him that these fools would hurt him but Hinata preferred to be suspicious and consider the worst. All he could do was wait and pray that these people wouldn't eat him. It was ridiculous to think that, Hinata knew it but he also knew that the foxes had captured him only to end up in a pot of boiling water and served as a main course at a dinner. 

"Are you okay?" 

The crow jumped, but this time he didn't utter a cry of surprise. He took several steps back to the right before looking up at the voice. It was Kita, his face still as expressionless as it was a few minutes ago when he was treating him. Hinata could see that a tray containing food was placed on the small dark wood table near the window. The redhead was angry with himself: he had been so caught up in his thoughts that he hadn't even heard Kita come into the room or smelled the food with his keen sense of smell. Where had his predatory instincts gone? Kageyama would laugh at him if he saw him. 

The more Kita approached him, the more Hinata moved back. This fox might have looked after and dressed him, the redhead could well imagine the sharp teeth capable of tearing his skin resting quietly in that mouth which spoke such calm words. Appearances were deceptive, Hinata knew it perfectly so it wasn't today that he was going to allow a stranger to come too close to him. And especially not a predator having the upper hand. Of course, he had let Kita take care of him without complaining, but he didn't forget that crows were despised by all. There was no law prohibiting their persecution, and therefore other animals were not shy to harass them. There are even some who organized crows hunts to supposedly "eradicate evil". People are so stupid. 

Unfortunately, by dint of backing up, Hinata's back hit the back wall of the room. He had nowhere to run. He inflated his wings, making them appear larger, more threatening, but the fox did not seem impressed by this warning because he stepped over the few feet that separated them without taking his eyes off him. Slowly, Kita raised his right hand and pointed it towards the crow's face. Hinata closed his eyes, expecting a sharp pain or something like that and already thinking about how he would bite the fox back but nothing came. 

Instead, a soft, warm hand rested gently on the boy's cheek, causing him to open his eyes in surprise. Hinata's body froze in apprehension. His amber orbs met those of Kita's mesmerizing yellow that reflected no aggressiveness or malice, just unparalleled calm. Seeing that Hinata did not free himself from his touch, the fox put his second hand on the other cheek. Under the redhead's terrified gaze, Kita began to trace circles with his thumbs under Hinata's dark circles, visibly wiping something away. 

After several seconds spent in uncomfortable silence, the taller boy finally spoke. "You were crying," he said with still so little emotion in his voice. The crow's cheeks flared with embarrassment and shame as the fox walked over to the table where the food was cooling. Hinata couldn't believe he had shown himself so vulnerable in front of a carnivore. It was a miracle he was still alive. "Sit down, you must be hungry." Kita said as he sat down with grace and delicacy. 

The response he received was the loud gurgling of the Hinata's belly, clearly showing his desire to fill his belly. His cheeks, already red, darkened even more as he squeezed his stomach with both arms in a futile attempt to muffle the embarrassing sound. He finally whispered a barely audible apology and went to sit in a comfortable chair, the back of which had beautiful light green patterns, across from Kita. The fox narrowed his eyes at the action, visibly dissatisfied. What? He expected Hinata to sit next to him? In his dreams. 

The smell of food made his mouth water. It looked really good. Part of his mind was telling him to be careful, to beware of this appetizing food, but the other part gently reminded Hinata of the last time he had drunk miso soup. That was seven weeks ago. Under Kita's observant gaze, the redhead shakily grabbed the chopsticks near the tray and tried to bring food to his mouth but failed miserably. His hand was shaking too much. 

Hinata glanced at the bandages covering his right hand and preventing his from eating. He felt stupid for biting him so hard when he could have sunk his teeth into the sheets or even bite Kita's hand. If Hinata had thought about it earlier, he wouldn't have to struggle with his chopsticks to be able to eat properly. He tried again to bring a mouthful of rice taunting him with its tantalizing scent to his lips but the more he forced his hand not to shake, the more it trembled. After the fifth bite to fall sadly back into the tray, Kita, who hadn't looked away even once, spoke. 

"Give me your chopsticks, I'll feed you," he said, extending his hand to him. 

Hinata thought three things. The first was that the fox had only been giving him orders since he woke up and he didn't like it, not at all. Who did he think he was? It was their fault, him and his fox friends, the crow shuddered at the memory of Suna's indifferent gaze at his injured body, if Hinata had to be treated and fed by them. The second was that he just couldn't take his eyes off Kita's outstretched hand waiting for him to give him the chopsticks. 

Skin similar to porcelain in its whiteness and delicate appearance covered thin fingers where sharp claws were at the ends. They weren't very long, an centimeter and a half or maybe two, and their elongated shape showed that they were serviced daily. Hinata couldn't help but think of the ease with which Kita could slit his throat with that claws. Maybe he was exaggerating but the fact that the fox could open his skin the same way a scalpel would was undeniable, no matter how hard he tried to deny it. 

This was not the case with Hinata. Without letting go of Kita's gaze, the fox didn't seem to be disturbed by Hinata's extremely long reflection time, he discreetly passed his thumb over his own perfectly cut and filed talons so that there was no longer any sharp edge. It was an obligation for all crows in the lands of Karasuno to cut their talons as short as possible so that they could live in harmony with other animals. This was unfair given that almost all of the inhabitants had sharp claws or talons but only crows were subject to this rule, one of many, without which they would simply be banished. People often believed that Karasuno was a haven for these magnificent jet-winged birds, welcoming and protecting them from suffered persecution for several hundred years, but it was not. 

First of all, the crows were not going to take refuge in Karasuno since it was their native land. They had lived there since the dawn of time, reigning supreme over the steep mountains and filled with vegetation, the cliffs where the waves crashed against the rock walls carved out over the years by the salt water of the ocean separating the Eastern and Western continents and the caves sheltering both precious stones of inestimable value as minerals essential to the development of a civilization. Until the arrival of larger, more imposing and more numerous animals. 

The law of the strongest operated and, even though the crows had fought against these invaders, their efforts were in vain in the face of the enormous claws of bears, opening the bellies of pregnant women to extract their fetus, or crocodiles plucking the wings of the teenagers with their sharp teeth. The howls of pain and the tears of children seeing their parents being killed had drowned out the sound of the waves crashing against the cliffs, once a perfect place to watch the sunset. The invaders killed the men, raped the women, whatever their age, before killing them in turn and enslaved the children. All of today's crows are ancestors of slaves with torn wings and broken souls.

History teachers liked to tell that the cursed birds had wandered from country to country in search of a place to settle but none accepted them, killing them without any remorse and, cannibalism not being punished by the law before, giving their lifeless bodies as a gift of peace to vultures and hyenas. Peacocks, cheetahs, deers and other majestic animals, loved and respected by the people, had welcomed in a surge of pity the last crows remaining on Earth, thus preventing their extinction and saving their endangered species. This false version of History allowed other animals to be put forward through their kindness and generosity, giving them an image of heroes in the eyes of the people, of the strong saving the weak. It was also used to exert control over the crows since, according to the history books of much of the world, they owed a debt to their saviors and therefore owed them obedience. 

Fortunately the days when their wings were cut and their freedom stolen were now over, but their status of "being inferior" was still valid. Hinata's gaze darkened at the memories of people watching him with disgust and contempt as he had to bow his head as he walked past them, ignoring the insults towards him and preferring to gaze at his dirty but perfectly manicured hands. At least, the mandatory wearing of a muzzle was questioned four years ago. 

Hinata might no longer have his sharp talons but he could still use his fangs in case of danger. That was the third thing he thought about. If Kita fed him, he could perfectly see the row of teeth, some sharper than others, adorning his mouth. He would know in this way that Hinata was not defenseless, that he could injure potential aggressors. Because, regardless of his social status or the opinion of other animals, Hinata remained a predator and was determined to prove it. 

The crow cautiously reached over to Kita's and placed the chopsticks there before withdrawing his hand as quickly as possible, causing a slight pain in his wrist. Hinata showed no sign of suffering, it was out of the question that he still shows signs of weakness in front of a stranger. He put both hands on his knees and squeezed them nervously, trying to ignore the tingling in the hand that had touched Kita's. Hinata hadn't expected it to be so soft and warm. He put that thought aside when chopsticks holding a bite of rice appeared right in front of his lips. The fox in front of him was staring at him with his emotionless yellow eyes, waiting for Hinata to eat. The crow first sniffed the food for any smell of poison, but it was nothing but rice. The redhead swallowed in apprehension before opening his mouth, making his fangs visible, and closing it on the chopsticks. 

He chewed slowly, taking the time to savor what turned out to be very good quality rice. The rice that Hinata and his mother were struggling to grow in the small dirt walkway behind their house was bland compared to this one. "If only there was an egg with it," thought Hinata as he swallowed his fifth bite of rice. Kita then gave him a piece of the grilled salmon, the smell of which had tickled the crow's nostrils since he had noticed the tray on the table and his smell did not disappoint him, it was delicious. 

The fox noticed that Hinata particularly liked fish because he kept feeding him with it, alternating sometimes with rice and miso soup. Finally came the pickled vegetables. Hinata recognized the white radishes as well as the salted plums held by the wooden chopsticks, his mother always tried to them, him and his sister, to make eat as many vegetables as possible. Hinata ate them willingly by biting the inside of his cheek so as not to smile stupidly but failed miserably considering the satisfied air that Kita wore. At least there was finally a legible emotion on his face. 

The crow's smile faded when his senses alerted him that several people were walking towards the room he was in. Evasive whispers reached his sensitive ears as his nose crinkled at the smell of freshly washed fur. Foxes. Kita felt it too, the fluffy ears above his head were moving as the noises grew louder. He finally got up from his chair, walked around the table and headed for the door, giving the smaller boy a cold look, clearly telling him not to move. Hinata froze under Kita's silent order before obediently lowering his head. 

He gripped his knees harder than he had five minutes ago and watched his fingers turn white as his brain raced. He had lacked vigilance. The redhead had let Kita gently coax him with food and warm clothes like a common pet. So naive of him. But he wouldn't make the same mistake. Hinata lifted his head, his gaze filled with determination, and listened to the young man with gray hair open the door, posting his body so that people outside could not see him. Hinata couldn't see them either, the chair he was sitting on had his back to the door, but the redhead could distinguish two smells that were both different and similar. 

"What are you doing here? I told you to stay away from this room." Kita asked in his usual bossy tone. 

"W-we were just curious! Did the chicken wake up?" Hinata recognized the deep voice of one of the twins he had seen before passing out. And that insulting name only confirmed his hypothesis that these two foxes with identical faces were standing on the doorstep, surely twisting their necks so that they could get a glimpse of his black wings and orange hair. "Instead of disobeying me, you should be sweeping the floor outside at this hour." Kita didn't seem particularly angry with the twins but the way he said those words made Hinata's blood run cold. He noted in a corner of his head to avoid angering the fox. 

"B-but-…" It was still the same voice speaking, the other twin hadn't spoken once since the door opened. The crow frowned. There were two people, right? He smelled two different smells besides Kita's and his own so why was there only one fox talking? Hinata turned his head slightly and risked a glance over his shoulder in a burst of curiosity. He could only see Kita's broad back and his black-tipped white tail as well as the top of the head of the other two boys. The one with the blond hair and ears was arguing in vain with the Kita to let him and his brother enter. 

The redhead's amber eyes shifted to the gray haired one, the same color as his ears, sliding down a firm jaw to suddenly meet two eyes as brown as chocolate. They were half-closed, as if the whole situation bothered him, but the burst of curiosity buried in the swirls of shades of brown did not escape Hinata. "Was he looking at me from the start?" the crow wondered, wiggling his knees awkwardly, uncomfortable with the fox's persistent gaze. 

But he didn't look away. Hinata's lighter brown clashed with the stranger's darker brown, creating an explosive mixture resulting in their gaze fight. As the smaller boy was about to puff his feathers menacingly, Kita abruptly closed the door despite the blond's protests. The crow jumped at the sudden noise and quickly turned his head towards the tray of food, hoping the older one hadn't seen the exchange of looks between him and the other teenager. 

Not that he felt guilty or anything, he hadn't done anything wrong, but he preferred not to have to talk to Kita. Footsteps were heard before the yellow-eyed young man sat down opposite him with still so much delicacy and grace. It was oddly intimidating. "I'm sorry, Atsumu and Osamu are a bit rowdy. But don't worry, they'll never come into your room," Kita reassured him as he reached out for the steaming glass of tea placed near the empty plates and bowls. 

Hinata was faster, grabbing the glass and squeezing it firmly with both hands to curb any shaking. It got him a tug of pain in his right hand, but he didn't loosen his grip either. "I can drink it without help," the crow whispered, raising the glass to his lips. Kita narrowed his yes, his gaze fixed on Hinata's rolling Adam's apple as the scorching liquid warmed the redhead's chest, tinting his cheeks on a pretty pink color. 

The atmosphere was heavy in the room and the more the seconds passed, the more Hinata had the impression that the air was cooling. While sipping his tea, delicious and surprisingly sweet, he thought of Kita's words. Besides the names of the fox twins, he had designated the room they were both in as his bedroom. Kita didn't expect Hinata to stay here, did he? It was absolutely out of the question for the crow to spend one more night in a place full of predators whose intentions he had no idea. 

Hinata missed his mother and sister. He had promised Kuroo and Kenma to be careful on the way home when he left the Nohebi festival. He was supposed to go berry picking with Yamaguchi and Yachi tomorrow morning. The tea suddenly seemed bland to Hinata so he put it back on the tray under Kita's watchful eye. Could this guy just stop staring at him so hard? It was intimidating and really tiring in the long run. Speaking of fatigue, it gradually began to overwhelm Hinata and lead him to the land of dreams. His body was clearly not used to swallowing so much food. 

The sheets of the bed suddenly seemed so soft and comfortable, almost the same texture as the silky feathers that formed Tsukishima's large wings that he liked to fall asleep in, despite all the insults shouted by the blond. Hinata excelled at ignoring the taller one cursing his family for at leasr six generations, preferring to bask in the warmth offered by the cocoon of feathers and limbs tangled together. Because, even though Tsukishima pretended to hate him, he always ended up wrapping his arms around Hinata's tiny body. 

The redhead put his two hands on the table covered with a lace tablecloth for support before standing up from the top of his one hondred sixty-four centimeters. Well, that was his plan if his head hadn't started to ache horribly and his eyes couldn't see any shape. His knees gave in under his weight and gravity pulled him down. Even if Hinata couldn't see anything, he still managed to catch up at the table at the last minute and, by doing so, prevent his head from meeting the brown wooden floor under his feet. Hinata's breathing became choppy as he desperately tried to get air through his mouth and nose. 

He didn't even notice Kita going around the table and putting his hands on the redhead's arms before he spoke. "You shouldn't have stood up so suddenly," Kita whispered in Hinata's ear, "I'm going to carry you so don't make any sudden movement." The warmth breath of the fox crashing into the back of his neck made him shiver and realize the situation. Kita was too close to him. It was dangerous. "I ... I-I don't need your help ..." Hinata refused, trying to contain the shaking in his voice. 

"Don't be stubborn. You can't even stand up." The older man's words were cold, emotionless, but Hinata could hear the order implied. A feeling of frustration and anger began to bubble in his stomach and weigh down his chest. He couldn't stand the warmth of the fox's hands on his arms or the rubbing of the claws on his skin. So when Kita tightened his grip on the crow's arms, Hinata exploded. 

"Don't touch me!" 

His suddenly flapped his wings, causing the fox to step back several steps. If Kita was surprised, he didn't let it show. Seeing his face so little expressive frustrated Hinata even more. He decided to ignore him completely, forget about Kita's disturbing presence, and concentrate on his movements. He stood up, much slower than the first time, hands still gripping the edge of the table as pain echoed through his body. Hinata began to walk very slowly towards the bed, clinging to whatever he could find. All except Kita. Depending on him was not an option. After long minutes of effort accompanied by loss of balance and several falls, the crow plopped down on the comfortable mattress with a long sigh of fatigue. His eyes were closing without him realizing it, leaving him completely vulnerable to a predator. 

"I'm so stupid ..." Hinata thought before sinking into a sleep full of nightmares and headaches. He didn't feel Kita covering him with fine woolen sheets taken out of the wardrobe.

-

"I don't agree." 

Kita stopped sweeping the alley littered with dead leaves and twigs that had fallen from the wind and November rain, before turning to a visibly annoyed Atsumu. Osamu was not far behind and Suna, feeling things getting interesting, moved closer with small quick steps. The cold mid-November wind blew through their bodies, blowing the heaps of leaves in an icy breath, as the sun somehow tried to pierce the thick clouds covering the sky, to no avail. It was going to rain soon. 

"About what?" the older one asked, turning his head away from the three foxes in front of him, preferring to concentrate on his task. The afternoon was drawing to a close and no one had bothered to sweep the alley leading to the stone stairs in front of the mansion. Kita wanted to take care of this before serving dinner so he didn't have time to deal with the Miya twins' whims. Atsumu clenched his jaw to keep his anger from exploding in front of his elder. "Are we really going to host that chicken?" 

"Of course. It's our fault he's hurt." Suna clicked his tongue at the implied accusation but soon regretted it when Kita glanced over his shoulder at his. "And it's not a chicken but a crow." The wind was blowing harder now, slamming some open windows of the huge building that overlooked the four foxes with its high stone walls and towers pointing to the gray sky. "Precisely! No one will blame us if we abandon a crow to his fate." Atsumu said, frowning in frustration. "And if we keep him, he won't be of any use to us. This thing is small, fragile and weak! Osamu saw hi-..." His sentence died in a muffled moan because of the nudge administered to his ribs by Osamu. "You weren't supposed to say that," his twin brother whispered furiously under Suna's amused gaze. 

Kita let go of the broom to turn fully towards them, completly turning his back to the well-kept garden and the trees on the edge of the forest. The contrast between the perfectly pruned shrubs, the paths, adorned with flowers resistant to the autumn rain, slaloming between the small decorative wooden arches where the climbing ivy coiled gracefully and the forest and its wild plants, its trees so tall that you couldn't see the top, was obvious. “Miya Atsumu,” Kita began, “whatever you think, this crow is under our responsibility. I'll not repeat myself a second time, is that understood?” 

Atsumu clenched his fists as his body stiffened at the words of the older one, bossy and threatening. A glance to the side allowed him to see Osamu obediently nodding, his body as stiff as his, and Suna staring up at the sky in an attempt not to meet Kita's eyes. Atsumu finally looked down at his perfectly waxed leather shoes before taking his brother's example. "Yes," he said, his voice half muffled by the now violent wind. 

"Good. Now go help Aran cook dinner and don't forget to tell him to cook for one more person," ordered the gray haired boy. He had already started sweeping the alley again and was about to start the stone stairs, the same ones the Miya twins were climbing to get back into the warmth of the mansion. But just before they opened the heavy double oak door, Kita gave them one last warning to which Atsumu and Osamu simply nodded. "No entry into Hinata's room." 

Suna, still standing at the top of the stairs, heaved a long bored sigh as his eyes remained fixed on the sky, as if he was hypnotized by the movement of the clouds and the icy wind lashing his cheeks. "It's going to be a pain in the ass," he thought while the first drops of rain landed on his face.


	2. Golden Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Memories, food & meeting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!  
> Thank you very much for all these tolerant and encouraging comments!
> 
> Also thanks to the people who came to talk to me on Twitter, I almost cried!
> 
> I think that the third chapter will take longer to release than this one, I'm sorry.
> 
> Warning: This chapter contains an explicit description of the decomposition of a body.

Hinata had now been walking around in circles in his designated room for five days. It was officially the worst five days of his life. 

First of all, because his sleeping hours were completely out of whack. He would wake up in the middle of the afternoon and then go back to sleep a few hours later without having done anything productive before opening his eyes to a room plunged into complete darkness. Hinata had panicked a lot the first few nights when there was only a suffocating darkness that welcomed him when he woke up but he eventually got used to it. At night, the forest was nothing more than a mass of misshapen shadows rising towards the sky covered with thick clouds that the moonlight couldn't pierce. 

Hinata's second problem was her injuries. Luckily he didn't have a concussion but the bump on the back of his head was anything but pleasant. Headaches would overwhelm him without warning at any time of the day and even in the middle of the night, giving him the impression of having his skull crushed by the powerful jaws of a crocodile. Not to mention Hinata's stitches. He had managed to count a total of twelve stitches by passing his hand over each of them because he didn't have a mirror available. The stitches were like a burn spreading all over his lower back and up his spine. When Hinata complained to Kita about the pain the stitches were giving him, the fox started to bring him infusions of willow bark at least five times a day. Since then, Hinata's wound was less painful. 

Speaking of Kita, he was not the only one looking after him. A tall, very tall fox with black hair and a terrifying face came most of the time in the room to give Hinata his meals and change his bandages. The redhead had nearly died of heart failure when this giant with ears and tail as black as Hinata's wings unlocked the door of the room and stared at him, a mixture of astonishment and consternation in his eyes. 

Surely this was the first time that Omimi Ren, Hinata learned his name after brief introductions punctuated by uncomfortable silence, saw a crow given that the Kingdom of Inarizaki only let them live at the borders of the country. Since their first meeting on the third day of Hinata's detention, he considered himself a prisoner although Kita assured him otherwise when he had the misfortune to accidentally express his thoughts aloud, a routine had set in. 

Omimi would enter the bedroom, Hinata could hear Kita say "This is your bedroom, not "the" bedroom" in the corner of his head, shortly after sunrise and wake the sleeping crow up. In this way, Hinata's disturbed sleep cycle ended and became as normal as it had been a few days ago when he was jumping out of bed at dawn to go and prepare breakfast with Inuoka, the person who had hosted him during the seven days that the festival of Nohebi lasted. Inuoka was living in the Democratic Republic of Nekoma but he was staying with his paternal grandparents during the festival. 

Three years earlier, during his first festival, Hinata had met him at the border of Nohebi, where the usual toll was taking place, and the two social butterflies quickly became friends. Spurred on by the impulse of the moment, Inuoka had proposed to Hinata to lodge him in his grandparents' house since the crow had no place to spend the night. At first distrustful, he had finally accepted in front of the bushy brown tail frantically whipping the air and the soft ears curling up adorably. 

After waking Sleeping Beauty, Omimi would open the windows to ventilate the room while Hinata would gently emerge from yet another hectic sleep before locking them again. How disappointed Hinata was when, only thirteen hours after his capture, he tried to fly out the window but collided with two locked doors. At that moment, the crow suddenly remembered the tale he had often told Natsu at bedtime, telling the tragic story of a leopard princess with long blond hair who threw her hair from the top of the tower where she was being held prisoner so that her lover and saviour could climb up and help her escape. 

The problem was that, firstly, Hinata was neither a princess nor a prince, secondly, the window was closed so he could not throw any rope, let alone his short orange hair, to a potential saviour and thirdly, nobody was going to come and save him because nobody knew where he was. Hinata would not be surprised if someone told him that his mother had had a heart attack because of her concern for a certain little crow with sunset-coloured hair who had been missing for five days. 

Five days, it was long, very long. If Hinata's family assumed that he had unfortunately passed away a few days after leaving Nohebi's land, then the search, if there was any, would surely end today or tomorrow. In five days, Hinata's body will have had time to cool down completely, since after death an individual's body loses one celsus degree per hour until it reaches room temperature. 

One or two hours after death, the blood, which is no longer circulating, will accumulate in the lower parts of the body under the effect of gravity and create scarlet stains called cadaveric lividities, which will increase in intensity over the hours. At the same time, the muscles will involuntarily contract due to the release of calcium into the cells and the body will remain rigid for about thirty-six hours before becoming flaccid. Twenty-four to forty-eight hours after death, putrefaction will begin. A green stain will appear on the abdomen due to the migration of faecal pigments through the inner walls and appear on the surface. 

All the bacteria naturally present in the body will then produce gases that will make the abdomen swell and displace the blood that was stagnant in the blood vessels. The superficial veins of the body will then form a very dark network. Shortly afterwards, the bacteria living in the body will first attack the digestive system, then the few organs spared by the scavengers that have come to feed on the corpse. The body will begin to ooze red and black liquids, the skin will gradually turn greenish and then black and the corpse will give off foul smells. 

As the fat cells will melt and the remaining tissues and organs will liquefy, flies will come and lay eggs in the most humid areas of the body. Maggots will develop there and penetrate the skin to feed on the dead individual. All the flesh will decompose, liquefy or be eaten by the maggots. Putrefied remains will come out through the nose, mouth or anus. Putrefaction will come to an end when the body will be dehydrated and dry. 

But since the weather was only getting colder and the frost had already replaced the morning rosé, then this whole decomposition process will take longer than normal. Hinata was hoping the research will continue for another week because of the freezing weather adding to the equation. Of course, he was not kidding himself. There were hundreds of missing crows a year, and few would reappear unharmed after three days without showing any sign of life. If Hinata were realistic, then he would say that the authorities in Karasuno were relying on the cold and snow of winter to keep his body cool and slow its decomposition until spring. After the snow melts, they will resume the search and, perhaps, come accross the lifeless body of Hinata Shouyou, or at least what will be left of it. 

Except that Hinata was alive, but for how long? Although during those five days Omimi and Kita had only fed him or changed his bandages, he remained on his guard because danger could arise when he will least expects it. Hinata had taken the trouble to inspect every nook and cranny of the room during the hours when he was left alone with his dark thoughts cluttering his mind. But he found nothing of much use in an escape. The floor and the walls were as smooth as a baby's skin, the windows were not only closed but double-glazed, and the small bathroom, accessible from a door at the back of the room, had no windows. All Hinata's hopes therefore rested on the brown wooden door, double-closed, from which the foxes entered at will and which opened onto a wide corridor. 

As Hinata laid his still drowsy eyes on the doorknob, he heard the sound of a key turning a lock and saw Omimi's tall figure enter the room. Today, too, he was dressed elegantly: a light blue shirt with sleeves rolled up to the elbows highlighting muscular arms, a gray suit jacket closed with six brown buttons, a dark blue tie and pants of the same blue than the tie, all accompanied by perfectly waxed black shoes and a leather belt. Compared to the fox, Hinata, his body covered in an oversized white shirt with black wings sticking out of two roughly cut holes and faded brown pants, looked miserable. Although Kita filled the wardrobe with clothes approximately the size of the crow, their quality was deplorable. 

"I see you're already awake," Omimi observed when their eyes met. Hinata whispered a "Good morning" but received no reply. Perhaps he should think about closing the curtains of the bed while he was sleeping, so he could avoid talking to a stranger a few minutes after waking up. The only thing that held the crow back was that the curtains looked incredibly expensive, made of material he could not even recognise, so Hinata was afraid of inadvertently damaging them and finding himself buried under debts he could never repay. 

While he was trying to guess the price of the light green curtains hanging above the bed, Omimi unlocked the windows and opened them wide to air the room. The cold air entering the room made Hinata shiver as the thin white curtains hanging from the windows swayed in the wind. After several minutes of watching the graceful movements of the curtains, Omimi ended up closing the windows and heading for the bathroom door. 

"Wait, where's my breakfast?" Hinata wished he hadn't asked his question in a panicked voice, but he couldn't tell either that he wasn't in the throes of panic. Usually, Omimi would come into the room with a tray of food and place it on the small table covered with a lace tablecloth before opening the windows. Except that this time there was no tray with a decent breakfast. Had these foxes decided to starve him? Were they tired of having to take care of him? 

But Hinata had nothing to do with it if he had to stay in this mansion without any escape. They had to face the consequences of their act instead of deciding to ignore the problem, that problem taking the form of an injured little crow eating three meals a day, more if the opportunity presented itself. The answer to Hinata's question was vague and made him even more perplexed. 

""You will eat later," Omimi replied. "That's not the priority right now." And on this word, he opened the bathroom door to enter and then closed it behind him, leaving the raven caught in a whirlwind of the craziest theories. Breakfast was not the priority? Kageyama always said that food came first, followed closely by sleep and hunting. But if it wasn't the priority, then what was? What was more important than food? No matter how the crow thought about it, nothing came to his mind. But in any case, Hinata will still get his breakfast, which meant that the foxes had no intention of starving him. Yet. Caught in his thoughts, Hinata didn't hear the noises coming from the bathroom until Omimi opened the door again. 

"It's ready, come over here." The redhead raised his head towards the black-haired fox, hesitated for a few seconds, before lifting the white sheets and putting his naked feet on the soft carpet. Although the bed was extremely comfortable, Hinata liked to roll over and over on the carpet to expel all the energy that was building up in his body, as he couldn't run and jump as he liked, as he used to, when he was still free. As Omimi closed the door after the smaller one had entered the room, Hinata let his gaze wander through the bathroom. The cold tiles under his feet were bright white, as were the walls of the room where a marble sink and a large mirror without a single stain were fixed. 

At the back of the bathroom, to the right of a closet containing towels, shampoo, creams and other cosmetics, was a discreet door leading to a toilet that Hinata had become accustomed to using. In the centre was a large, usually empty bathtub full of hot water from which steam escaped and dissipated into the air. Hinata frowned. What was going on? Where was the basin of water waiting for him in the sink every morning so that he could wash his face and at the same time soak a towel to rub his body with? The crow took a few steps back, suspiciously, but his wings struck Omimi's chest, which was standing in front of the door and thus blocking his way. The fox seemed to have predicted that Hinata would be reluctant to take a bath. 

"What does it all mean?" 

"It's been five days, or more, since you last took a bath. You have to be at a minimum presentable in front of others." Hinata had the impression that the fox's deep voice had made the walls tremble due to its intensity but he quickly realized that it was him who was trembling and not the walls. Hinata knew this day would come, the day he would have to face his jailers. But just because he knew it didn't mean he was mentally prepared for it. His stomach was painfully distorted by anguish and anxiety and, for a moment, the redhead thought he was going to vomit up his dinner from last night on the tile floor the same whiteness as blooming amaryllis. 

"Hurry up, we don't have much time," Omimi pressed him, his black tail whipping impatiently. Hinata grimaced and snapped his tongue against his palate to express his irritation before he began to unbutton the white shirt that covered his small body. The garment slipped off his shoulders, pushed his ebony wings through the poorly cut holes and finally fell to the ground with a crumpled cloth. Hinata glanced at Omimi, who did not take his eyes off the crow once, to tell him to get out of the bathroom. He may have been wounded, but the redhead knew very well how to undress and wash himself, he didn't need a giant of God-knows how many centimetres to help him. The crow may have the size of a child but he was not one. 

Omimi hesitated a few moments, seeming reluctant to let Hinata take care of himself alone, but ended up leaving, informing that he would be back in fifteen minutes. It was only when the door closed behind the towering fox figure that the smaller one could release the breath he was holding. Seriously, why was this guy so scary? But he did not have time to question himself any longer because fifteen minutes was a short time for a bath so every minute was most precious. 

After the shirt, it was the turn of those uncomfortable brown pants in which Hinata had spent a horrible night to be thrown to the floor in an almost angry movement. He could have only slept with the shirt and underwear on, but the sheets were far too thin to protect him from the mid-November cold. Maybe he should ask Kita to get him some pajamas. If Hinata were to spend several more weeks here, he might as well enjoy everything he could, including this bath. 

He finished undressing by removing his underwear as well as the bandages wrapped around his lower back and his head, his right hand had not been bandaged for a few days but there was still a trace of bite, revealing to the open air the twelve stitches decorating her skin whose tan of the summer spent in the fields cultivating rice was gradually beginning to fade. Hinata trotted over to the closet to get some soap and a vial of what appeared to be shampoo before heading to the tub, humming a children's rhyme. 

Slowly, he dipped one foot in the water to test the temperature and was delighted to find that it was neither too hot nor too cold. After Hinata's feet came his legs and, as he sat down in the tub, he was particularly careful about the hot water contacting his wound. It was oddly soothing. When was his last bath? If the raven took into account the sudden outings to Lake Zilverspar, a large water hole in the middle of a forest mainly made up of cypresses, cedars and pines, located several hundred kilometers from the big cities of Karasuno and very popular among the peasants living not far from the forest, then his last bath was last summer. 

Under the scorching August sun, Hinata and Kageyama had slipped like bandits between the green branches of the trees protecting them from the prying eyes of the forest rangers controlling the passage through the forest and not letting the crows pass. Abandoning the path marked out by the rangers to guide visitors to the lake, the two teenagers had decided to go into the woods with no other landmarks than their sharpened senses to reach a water point connected to the lake, hidden by the thick bushes surrounding it and therefore unknown to the public. 

On that day, Hinata had blindly followed his instinct who told him to follow the flow of the water point leading to a cave where the water from the lake, in addition to having dug out the rock, had half submerged the entrance, forming a perfect place for bathing. There, sheltered from the burning rays of the sun and the heavy, humid summer air, Hinata and Kageyama had plunged headfirst into the cool water contrasting with their burning skin, dripping with perspiration and covered here and there with tree leaves. 

Hinata's amused laughter had ricocheted off the walls of the cave where the water projected turquoise reflections, giving an almost magical aspect to the place. For several hours, the two crows had sent water to their faces with their black wings, had done an apnea competition to find out which of the two could stay underwater for the longest time and tried all sorts of imaginable games to do in and underwater. When they heard a suspicious noise, Kageyama would suddenly grab Hinata by the waist and drag him underwater like a mermaid taking an unlucky sailor who had succumbed to her charm in the darkness of the abyss. Surrounded by green algae and rough stones, the teenagers would wait for calm to return to the surface, their bodies, only dressed in underwear, pressed together as tightly as possible and their blood pulsing wildly in their heads due to the excitement of being found. 

Hinata's lips curled in a nostalgic smile as the image of Kageyama's embarrassed face came to his mind, cheeks sprinkled with a red tint and eyes dillatted, after an air bubble escaping from the smaller's mouth had tried to rise to the surface but had crashed against Kageyama's lips. At that very moment, as their two bodies were so pressed together that the water submerging them could not pass between them, Hinata's eyes had filled with mischief as his fingers had slowly traced two words on his friend's bare, muscular chest: I-N-D-I-R-E-C-T K-I-S-S. Kageyama had almost drowned in shock. 

But Hinata's smile faded when two knocks sounded on the door and Omimi's deep voice rose in the room. "Eight minutes." The crow grimaced, would he even have time to smooth out his feathers? He grabbed the soap and began to angrily rub his skin until it became red and then rinsed it with water from a jug placed at the foot of the bathtub. He repeated this process several times, watching the dirty layers of skin peel away from his body and only stopped when his skin had become as smooth as it had been at birth. Hinata then poured the contents of the vial of shampoo into his orange hair and rubbed his scalp so hard that the bump on the back of his head hurt him for several minutes. He rinsed his hair with the jug three times in a row to make sure that there was no shampoo residue trapped between the apricot-coloured swirls of his hair before reluctantly getting out of the bathtub. 

Hinata let out an unpleasant squeal when his freshly washed foot came in contact with the coldness of the tiles but did not slow down his walk towards the closet. He barely had time to pull out a large towel and wrap his body in it when the bathroom door swung open, causing Hinata to jump in surprise. "Go get dressed and wait for me at the door," Omimi ordered as he bent down to pick up the clothes Hinata had dropped on the floor. Hinata would have obeyed with pleasure if the fox had added "please" at the end of his sentence but since it was not the case, he did so with a glare in the direction of the older one. The crow quickly grabbed a second towel and the white box acting as a first aid kit before crossing the bathroom as best he could with his body wrapped in the large towel. So that was what the life of a sushi looked like.

Back in the bedroom, the redhead dried his body with the large towel while the second was used to dry his hair. He simply ruffled his wings to send the drops of water crashing against the wallpaper on the nearest wall. Once dry, he walked over to the wardrobe and opened it wide to go over the outfits he had on hand. Strangely, Hinata felt pressed for time, as if he was late for an important meeting with a merchant of precious fabrics coming straight from the Southern Continent especially for him. 

Except that he was just completely naked in front of a wardrobe that did not belong to him, picking out clothes that did not belong to him to meet strangers in a mansion that, as you might expect, did not belong to him. But that did not mean Hinata had to dress anyhow. Certainly, during these five days, he had chosen the first clothes that came to hand to have at least a fabric covering his tanned skin and protecting him from the cold air, but the redhead still had a certain self-esteem. It was out of the question to wear the same kind of bottom as those horrible faded pants in which Hinata had spent the night. But wearing something decent turned out to be more complicated than expected. 

Hinata put on a pair of underwear, in case Omimi would enter into the room without warning, and tried to analyze what he could wear without appearing ridiculous. The dark green sweater? The sleeves were too long. The leather pants? Hinata would look like a child disguised as an adult in them. What about the blue striped shirt? Too bad the holes in the back looked like they had been cut with an ax. Just as the crow was about to sew his own clothes with the sheets and curtains of the bed, his gaze fell on gray canvas pants with white checks with suspenders of the same color. 

Hinata hesitated a long time, his eyes searching for another choice of dress, but the noise that Omimi made in the bathroom told him that the fox had soon finished cleaning the tub. He had no time to waste. He opened the first aid kit, pulled out a roll of bandages and began to wrap his lower back with it as quickly as possible. Perhaps he should become a nurse, he would be of great help during major disasters where hospitals will be saturated. "Focus instead of talking about bad luck!" he scolded himself aloud as he hurriedly replaced the bandage roll in the first aid kit. Hinata hadn't bandaged his head but his hair hid his bump and it had started to deflate so, in his opinion, bandaging it would just be a waste of medical supplies and time. 

Now it was time to find a shirt. The crow had certainly found a decent bottom, but he still had the top to find. He almost dipped his body into the closet looking for a shirt his size, frantically shifting the other clothes he deemed inadequate. "Come on, just one. Please, just one ... Plea -... Ah!" Hinata clung to a hanger as if his life depended on it and took it out of the wardrobe with a radiant smile but quickly calmed his joy. What would his mother think if she knew her precious missing son was not struggling with a potential abuser but rather desperately choosing clothes? Although in both cases, Hinata was fighting for his life. 

These unnecessary thoughts put aside, he looked at the white shirt, miraculously well ironed, which he had somehow found in the panoply of shirts all as horrible as each other. The redhead put it on and, although it was slightly too big and the holes were still badly cut out, it was better than nothing. After slipping his legs into the gray pants with white checks and buttoning the shirt, Hinata put his arms through the gray suspenders and tucked the shirt, too big, into the pants. He rolled up the sleeves slightly to hide their length before going in search of a belt. Anything would do at this point but it looked like luck was on his side today because, hidden between the folds of an old red woolen sweater - who had the idea of knitting such an atrocity? - was a goatskin belt wisely waiting to be worn. 

As Hinata passed the belt around his waist, his gaze lingered on the old brown shoes that Kita had given him on the day of his capture. With a long, resigned sigh, he reluctantly began to put them on while the noises in the bathroom stopped. Omimi had finished. Although Hinata managed to choose clothes in record time, the vague thought that he looked like a newsagent crossed his mind, he was still disappointed that he hadn't had time to smooth his feathers for even a few minutes. The crow sat down on one of the three chairs surrounding the small table where he usually ate his meals and let his gaze wander to the only window in the room. 

Hinata could not tell whether the room was facing east or west as thick grey clouds covered the sky without giving the sun a chance to appear. The amber eyes of the red-haired boy gazed at the dull ceiling formed by the clouds, seemingly carrying all the misfortunes of the world and ready to shed tears of sweet water for an indefinite period of time. "I am the one who should be crying," Hinata thought bitterly, his eyes becoming more and more glassy as the clouds moved up in the sky.

He emerged from his almost drowsy state when the door of the bathroom opened for the umpteenth time in the morning and Omimi's large body came out. Hinata did not want to admit that a feeling of pride settled in his chest at the sight of the glow of satisfaction in the fox's eyes who had examined him from head to toe. "Let's go." Even though the sentence sounded like an order and there was no form of politeness behind those words, Hinata gladly got up from the chair and walked towards the brown wooden door that Omimi was starting to unlock. 

After one hundred and twenty hours trapped between four walls, the crow could finally get out of the cage in which he had been vulgarly locked up without any form of trial five days previously. One, two turns of key in the lock later and Hinata was in the wide corridor that he had only glimpsed from his sitting position on the bed. He narrowed his eyes, dazzled by the daylight coming from the wall in front of him where large windows, all closed, lined up every ten meters and lit the corridor. As they began to walk, Omimi leading the way and Hinata following a few steps behind, the redhead allowed himself to observe all that his eyes could distinguish, even the most unnecessary details. 

The floor, made of concrete slabs, was covered with a beautiful scarlet red short-haired carpet decorated with gold-coloured patterns. The walls were half made of white wood wainscotting while the other half was covered with brown wallpaper, so light it appeared beige, with graceful patterns, darker, surely from the kingdom of Inarizaki. Drapes, the same color as Hinata's eyes, framed the large, imposing windows, reminding him of his mother's short brown hair framing her tired but still beaming face. On the opposite wall, doors resembling the one in Hinata's room appeared every twenty meters. 

When they finally reached the end of the corridor, Omimi turned right and began to descend the steps of a white marble staircase, also covered with a light beige carpet. Hinata touched the black metal stair railling, completely impressed by the beauty of the staircase, and followed the fox closely so as not to lose him in the maze of the corridor. Omimi continued down, ignoring the second and first floor, the smallest one would have liked to take a look at it, but unfortunately he hadn't had the time, to finally stop at the ground floor, where the staircase started. 

Hinata recognised what seemed to be an entrance hall; a floor made of the same marble as the staircase, an imposing double oak door, numerous decorative paintings hanging on the wall, a door leading surely to a vestibule, but what impressed the redhead more was the black metal candlestick hanging from the ceiling. Tall, beautiful and as if forged in lace, it overlooked the hall with grace and elegance. 

If he had the choice, Hinata could stay for hours watching the candlestick from all angles, recording the beautiful curves of the metal and the chains holding it to the ceiling, but he had to follow Omimi. He reluctantly pulled himself away from his contemplation and slightly accelerated his pace to catch up with the fox who had not waited for him, already rushing into a corridor devoid of windows. 

Snatches of conversation followed by the sound of cutlery, forks scraping on plates and the tinkling of glass reached Hinata's sensitive ears, making him realise that the dreaded moment was fast approaching. A feeling of apprehension tied his throat and his fingers started to shake, slightly but uncontrollably. The endless corridor suddenly seemed tiny and, before Hinata knew it, they were entering a huge room with a warm atmosphere. 

About thirty people were bustling around three long tables covered with immaculately white cotton tablecloths, placing plates full of food and glasses half full, folding napkins and chatting happily together. Well, that was the case until they noticed Hinata's presence. The discussions stopped, the laughter died down, and no one even moved a spoon, plunging the room into a heavy silence. The crow could hear his heartbeat accelerating in his rib cage as countless pairs of eyes were staring at him, moving from his orange hair to his jet-black wings, not forgetting to ogle his little body stiff with nervousness. Hinata's blood froze in his veins and a cold sweat ran down his spine, making him shiver unpleasantly. 

In a sudden impulse, or in a desperate need for support, the redhead reached out his hand and grabbed the bottom of Omimi's shirt a few centimetres in front of him. Hinata didn't need to raise his head towards the fox to know that he was looking at him with a surprised look on his face. To tell the truth, he himself was surprised at his childish action. But although Omimi had been cold and distant, speaking only when necessary and never seeking to form a bond of friendship between them, in this huge room with blood-red walls and brown wooden floors where everyone was watching him from head to toe, he was the one Hinata felt closest to. 

It did not mean that he was trusting him or did not feel resentment towards him anymore, but the fact that the heat coming from Omimi's skin and passing through the cloth to warm Hinata's fingers, which had become cold and sweaty due to stress and anxiety, calmed the frantic beating of his heart was undeniable. 

"Everyone, sit down and start eating before the food gets cold." 

A deep, neutral and familiar voice broke the heavy silence that once reigned over the room. As people started talking again and the sound of chairs scraping filled what appeared to be a dining room, Hinata recognized Kita's silhouette at the end of the second table. He was dressed as elegantly as Omimi: a black cardigan over a white shirt, accompanied by a navy tie and light brown pants, the same color as the leather belt around his waist. Hinata did not have time to observe him any longer because Omimi was already walking across the room, making him let go of the shirt in the process, to go and sit at the second table. 

The crow followed closely behind him and tried to ignore the whispers left in his wake as best he could before settling in the chair next to his. Hinata was surprised to find that the people at the table were not just foxes but rather a mixture of races from several continents. At the first table, amid the bushy tails and ears of foxes, a beautiful gazelle of desert origins was in the middle of a conversation with a teenager with little black and yellow wings, surely a parakeet from the Southeast Islands. 

A table away, a young man with impressive build and pointed horns, characteristic of the inhabitants of the northern lands of the Western Continent, was glaring at anyone who tried to start a conversation with him. "Buffaloes are scary ...", Hinata thought, focusing on the plate in front of him, for fear of meeting the buffalo's gaze. 

The contents of the plate were nothing like the breakfasts he usually ate, whether they were at the mansion or the ones he and his mother set out to prepare every morning, using the few ingredients they had. Several slices of toasted bread smelling of olive oil were covered with slices of tomatoes and placed harmoniously on the porcelain plate. Beside it, a cup of latte and a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice glistened in the daylight that three large windows let through. 

Slowly, Hinata took a toast in his hand and brought it to his mouth, letting his teeth bite the crisp surface of the slice of bread. A taste of olive oil and tomato invaded his taste buds as he carefully chewed the food in his mouth, enjoying the new flavor he was discovering. Hinata brought the glass of orange juice to his lips and let the cool liquid run down his esophagus to end up watering his stomach, which needed more. Forgetting the curious looks burning his back, the more or less discreet whispers about him and Kita's observant eyes at the other end of the table, the crow enjoyed this exotic breakfast with foreign flavors and bewitching smell, all under Omimi's satisfied gaze. 

Once his plate was finished, Hinata's attention returned to those around him. Omimi was drinking his latte in such an elegant manner that the redhead dared not touch his cup, for fear of looking ridiculous next to the almost overpowering fox. His amber gaze moved to the front of the table where familiar looking people were chatting among themselves. He recognized the twins with the easily peculiar fur, the two seemed to be arguing over the food on the table but Kita quickly came to calm them down. 

Speaking of Kita, Hinata felt like he had already seen the fox sitting in the chair next to his.. Tall - why were they all so tall in this mansion? - dark skin, green eyes, broad shoulders and hypnotizing black fur. He narrowed his eyes, opening every drawer of his memory to find at least something to do with this stranger until, finally, one sentence stood out among all the ones Hinata had thought of on the famous day of her capture. Warm arms. Arms belonging to a certain person named Aran. 

It seemed that Hinata had stared at Aran for too long because he turned his green eyes away from the rowdy twins to meet the crow's big and curious ones. A shy smile spread across the fox's lips as he watched Hinata smile back at him, cheeks flushed with embarrassment at the memory of the muscular arms enveloping his cold, injured body in a warm embrace. 

Unfortunately, the exchange of glances did not last long because of the blond fox trying to steal food from his twin brother's plate, causing him to grunt with discontent. Aran diverted his attention from Hinata to reprimand the teenager and let the crow resume his observation of the people at the table. After trying to follow the noisy conversation between two foxes, one with short, sandy brown hair and the other as black as night standing on his head, Hinata lost track of the conversation and could only watch their bushy tails whipping the air energetically. 

He abandoned their conversation to focus on someone he knew very well. The bastard who attacked him in mid-air was quietly drinking his glass of orange juice and watching the twins argue with an interested eye. Like with Aran, Hinata's intense gaze saturated with hatred attracted Suna's calculating eye. The yellow and sharp slits of the tallest one observed the warm brown bathed in Hinata's iris like the seive of an oak flowing along its trunk. 

But unlike Aran, Suna's smile was not shy or benevolent. It was sarcastic, dripping with mischief and mockery. You could smell the guile oozing from his almond-shaped eyes, which could make the most beautiful tigresses in the country jealous, just like the pus from an infected wound, leaving a foul and nauseating smell in his wake. 

Hinata felt his fangs squeak against each other as he squeezed his fingers so tightly on his knees that his knuckles turned white. The bastard did not look at all sorry for having hurt an innocent person, or he was hiding his guilt very well. Just as the crow was about to throw a plate at Suna's head, several people got up from their seats and started to pile up the dirty plates and cutlery. Surprised, Hinata raised his head to Omimi in search of answers to his silent question. "You stay seated," he replied simply, not even deigning to look at him. 

Minutes went by and the dining room began to slowly empty of people and cutlery. The three tables soon became empty except for the white tablecloth and the silver candlesticks, Hinata could not believe that such a precious material was now before his eyes, resting on it. When the room contained only the crow and a few foxes, Kita spoke up. "Hinata," he said, "there are two things we need to talk about. The first is that Suna here has an apology to make to you." 

Suna, who was half asleep on the table, lazily looked up at Hinata. Boredom, annoyance and weariness were reflected in his yellow orbs as he shied away from Kita's uncompromising gaze. "I apologize for hurting you. I saw a weird little thing flying in the sky and mistook it for a chicken. My bad." 

He ended his sentence with the same smirk as the earlier one, his whole being visibly reveling in the blaze of frustration and irritation burning in Hinata's chest. "The last part wasn't necessary…" Aran's voice rose in the room as he scolded the fox slumped in his chair. Hinata was seriously starting to believe that the dark-skinned boy was the best person in this mansion. He would later see that his theory proved to be true. 

"Well, the fact that he looks like a chicken is undeniable. So small and insignificant." This time it was the blond fox who had spoke, wrapping his words in velvet as his brown eyes crinkled towards the increasingly angry crow. "Atsumu," intervened Aran, "that's rud-..." 

"What?" With swollen feathers and a raised voice, Hinata let his anger run free. "Stop fucking with me. Do you really think I'm going to believe someone who pretends to confuse a chicken and a crow? All I did was low-flying and that wild wolf attacked me!" 

Suna snapped hid tongue at the word "wolf". Animals hated being confused for another species and Hinata knew this very well. "It's the second thing we have to talk about." With his simple sentence, Kita calmed the few people, including the crow, who had begun to get restless. He folded his arms on the table and plunged his eyes into Hinata's eyes. Hinata had a bad premonition. 

"Since when and how many times a year have you been flying over the forest?" The question caught him off guard. Why did Kita need to know this? The redhead's instincts were telling him, no, they were rather yelling at him to lie, which he would have done without problems if the aura of the fox with fur as white as the first snowflakes of the year, which Hinata had once watched fall with childlike fascination without knowing that snow meant an icy winter, did not oppress him so much. In a sceptical voice he answered the question. "For the past three years. And only once a year. Why do you want to know that?"

An annoyed look appeared for a quarter of a second on Kita's face but disappeared so quickly that Hinata thought he had imagined it. "That means you flew over the forest three times without paying the toll." 

A cold sweat ran down the crow's back as he realised the situation. The toll was a fee paid to use certain roads or to travel from country to country. For national tolls, a small amount of money was enough to do the job, but for international tolls, the amount was much higher. From Karasuno to Nohebi, Hinata had to pay the right to leave his country and the right to enter Nohebi's land. Tariffs varied from animal to animal, but crows had to pay such a high price that most gave up and ended their lives without having travelled even once. 

For a whole year, Hinata would accumulate work where people were willing to accept it, ploughing the fields under a scorching sun, fishing in water so icy that he could no longer feel his legs, enduring the humiliation of cleaning the floors of a spotless house while his stomach was starving, all this to have enough money to enjoy the Nohebi Autumn Festival. After the toll was paid, an amulet painted black and bearing the coat of arms of the Karasuno royal family was given to him as proof of payment. 

Without it, he could not go home. The thought that he had misplaced the amulet in his fall that day quickly crossed his mind, but the crow pushed it into a corner of his head. He had other more important things to deal with. 

As the forest was an isolated place, Hinata had naively believed that he could fly above it without having to pay anything. Except that nothing in this world was free. Luck had been on his side for three years, but reality caught up with him very quickly. He now had two options: face the consequences of his actions or play the innocence card. Hinata opted for the second option. 

"T-Toll? I didn't know there was one! There's never anyone on the outskirts of the forest to warn anyone." His hands were shaking slightly and his voice was not really assured but he did not look away from Kita's, not even deigning to look at the blond, Atsumu, who started talking again as he stood up on his chair, his ears waving with interest. 

"Nice acting but it won't work with us. Everyone, even you and your disgusting species, knows that there's no one around because the toll here is different from other countries." 

Hinata grabbed his knees even harder. Couldn't he just shut that proud mouth and stop adding an insult to every sentence? Kita also did not seem to appreciate the mocking tone in his voice. If only this guy could learn from his completely disinterested twin brother. Yes, everyone, even Hinata, knew that the toll was different. 

The forest belonged to the kingdom of Inarizaki so the same toll was applied, a toll so expensive that when someone was forced to enter this territory mainly populated by foxes, he would sell everything. Jewellery, clothes, houses, organs and perhaps even a member of his family at the Black Market. Hinata knew the stakes of flying over the forest illegally but he could not afford to go around it, at the risk of entering the military base of Date Kogyô. There, it was absolutely impossible to pass unnoticed and the money he had was barely enough to pay the Karasuno and Nohebi toll, no need to add the Date Kogyo's. 

With a mischievous smile, Atsumu continued in his diatribe. "The population of the border countries, including the countryside you live in, is too poor to even put a foot in our territory. And you say you didn't know this? Don't be more stupid than you look." 

Hinata felt his muscles tighten under his skin and his wings straighten as his warm gaze disappeared, giving way to a chocolate-brown emptiness reflecting murderous intentions. "His throat," he thought. If the raven jumped from his chair and propelled himself to the left in a quick leap, he could easily reach the throat of that scum who had been talking nonsense for five long minutes and slit his throat with his fangs. He would tear off his skin, bite into his Adam's apple, and finally reach his vocal cords and cut them with the utmost care. 

Hinata had never killed anyone before, but there had to be a first time for everything. It was certainly the most unconscious idea he ever had of his existence because, firstly, a crow killing a person of another species will be directly condemned to death without any form of trial and, secondly, the foxes in the room will tear him to pieces alive as a reprisal. "Shut up," he simply grunted. His voice was no longer shaking. 

Atsumu must have noticed Hinata's gaze filled with an explosive cocktail of animosity and disgust because his disgusting smile grew even bigger, showing a row of sharp white teeth where four canines dominated in size all the others. His twin brother suddenly paid a little more attention to the conversation while Suna squinted in amusement. 

After an interminable silence in which Aran glared at Atsumu and Omimi discreetly slipped his hand over Hinata's much smaller one in a vain attempt to calm him down, or rather to warn him not to do anything unconscious, Kita spoke again. "If we take into account the three times, which logically are six, because I estimate that you have made a round trip each time, where you entered clandestinely in this forest under the authority of the Kingdom of Inarizaki and the damage caused by Suna's negligence..." 

He turned his head towards the smallest fox in the room. "Akagi." This single word was enough for the spiky-haired young man to get up and walk to a decorative mahogany chest of drawers placed under one of the three huge windows from which the grey sky outside poured a pale light into the room. He took out a sheet of yellowed paper, a pot of ink and a feather that looked unpleasantly like the ones on Hinata's wings. Akagi, because that was his name, came back to the table and put what he had just taken out of the chest of drawers in front of Kita who began to scratch the paper with the feather dipped in ink. The blackish liquid soaked the paper with the precise and elegant strokes of the fox, filling the silence of the room for precisely four minutes and eighteen seconds, before finally coming to a halt with a final dot and a signature. 

"Can you read?" He asked for Hinata's intention. 

"Of course he can't." 

"Of course I can." 

Atsumu arched an eyebrow, intrigued by the crow's intervention. Taken by a sudden childish impulse, Hinata pulled out his tongue, swelling his cheeks. Atsumu answered in the same way, hanging a pink tongue from his curved mouth in a grimace worthy of the greatest horror tales. Osamu mumbled something about sitting at a table with such childish people. 

Kita gave the paper and writing materials to Aran, who passed them on to Omimi and finally came to Hinata's hands. He looked through the text full of words that were too complicated or unknown for his insufficiently enriched vocabulary. His mother had only taught him to read and write the essential, judging literature and calligraphy to be a luxury reserved for the well-to-do and therefore a useless hobby for crows who barely had enough to spend the winter. 

The more Hinata read, the more his eyebrows dug two deep ditches in his forehead. He could hear his heartbeat resonating in every cavity of his body, causing his bones to vibrate unpleasantly and his organs to startle. One sentence, particularly long and written by the firm, confident hand of the fox watching his reaction from across the table, stood out among the dripping letters in thick ink like a star trying to eclipse its fellow in the dark sky. 

"From this day, and until further notice, Hinata Shouyou, citizen of the Kingdom of Karasuno and belonging to the race of Corvus Mellori, commonly known as the Little Crow, will be in charge of forced labour in the Royal Reserve of Inarizaki to repay his debt of thirty gold and three silver coins accumulated over the past three years." 

Firstly, how did they know what race of crow he was? Tsukishima often told him that it was visible at first glance but Hinata furiously refused to believe that the simple fact of laying eyes on his little meter sixty-four was enough to understand what race he was from. Secondly, what was this forced labor? Lower down in the contract, because it was indeed one, a string of household chores lined up one after the other and seemed as endless as the hallways of this mansion. 

Laundry, cooking, cleaning, housework, fishing, hunting, gathering, gardening and much more. Hinata did not remember having applied for any job as a housekeeper, especially not in a huge forest where a yellow-eyed fox was attacking you because you looked like a chicken. In sixteen years of existence, it was the worst explanation Hinata had ever heard. He was going to tell it to his grandchildren, for sure. 

And thirdly, what was that lousy salary? Even that horrible snake with disgusting breath and eyes that were a bit too wandering around, in whose house Hinata had repaired the roof in a pouring spring rain, had given him a better salary. The contract stated that food and lodging were included in the pay and therefore reduced the final amount. What was next? They were going to make him pay for life insurance and medical bills as well? Oh, the medical bills were paid for by these foxes as an excuse for - intentionally - injuring him. 

How gallant of them. Too bad Hinata did not give a damn about their gallantry. It was not with this salary that he was going to manage to collect thirty gold coins and three silver coins. Thirty silver coins were needed to obtain one gold coin, twenty bronze coins for one silver coin and ten copper coins for one bronze coin. The amount of the debt was therefore astronomical considering the fact that Hinata rarely managed to collect enough coins to get the silver ones. 

The raven spent the next few minutes - or was it hours? - protesting again and again, almost to the point of driving the contract down Atsumu's throat, who never missed an opportunity to make an inappropriate or insulting remark. He complained about the ridiculously low wages, that it would take him several months to repay this ridiculous debt, a debt that had been accumulated because of the poor security of this so-called Royal Reserve of a Kingdom bathed in gold and precious stones. 

The situation got slightly out of hand when Atsumu cut Hinata out of his tirade, saying that his absence would make one less mouth to feed his family, who were logically as poor as they seemed. To which Hinata replied: "Said the one who is unable to notice me passing under his nose when my hair is shinier than his future. And that was for three years! Is that really Inarizaki's elite? I guess you can't buy qualities." Osamu and Suna had applauded loudly as Atsumu tried to break free from the firm grip of Aran and the sand-haired fox, Ginjima, while pouring out an incessant stream of insults at Hinata. 

The smaller one ignored him in order to concentrate on Kita and resume his complaints about anything and everything: the salary, the fact of being locked up for five days between four walls, his wounds, the locked window of his room and the too thin sheets with which he covered himself at night, the holes in his coarsely cut clothes and even the existence of Atsumu, because it had to be said that this guy was the epithome of a bastard. 

Hinata had only known him for about thirty minutes, but he was already planning to bury him alive in the beautiful garden at the back of the mansion. Hopefully his corpse will make a perfect fertilizer for the coming winter. 

But all his laments seemed to ricochet against Kita's rigid body, never reaching the fox's two white, black-tipped ears. "This is the procedure to follow," he ended up saying when Hinata had no more arguments in reserve, "we are not going to break the Rules of Order just because you don't want to. You are no more special than the others, I don't see why you should be treated differently". Hinata swallows with difficulty at Kita's uncompromising tone. He did not mince his words at all and it seems that the other people at the table were of the same opinion, considering the reflections of pity bathing in their irises. 

Hinata sighed loudly, suddenly feeling exhausted. His amber gaze fell on the contract, which was wisely waiting for him to put down his signature. Then Hinata thought. He thought of his mother piling up work after work, with a pale and thinned face, to pay off her stupid son's debt. He thought of his little sister venturing alone into the forest to pick fruit, flowers and leaves to make bouquets and sell them cheaply in the hope of filling her still growing little stomach. 

Hinata thought of their kitchen cupboards, always so sadly empty, only accepting food on rare occasions. But it was when the image of his sister passing through the Black Market pavilion to get the money to pay off a debt of this magnitude that Hinata, resigned, dipped the feather of a bewitching black in the ink pot and delicately traced his full name on the bottom of the paper. 

It was ten o'clock and eighteen minutes when Hinata was officially subjected to forced labour under the direction of the staff of the Royal Reserve of Inarizaki until the sum of thirty gold and three silver coins was obtained. 

Outside, the wind did not seem to want to calm down.

**Author's Note:**

> You can follow me on Twitter if you. It's @Little_Ayakashi


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